Vergelegen Merlot 2003

Ripe plum with ruby rim. The nose shows ripe fruit flavours, spice and a touch of chocolate. The ripeness of the fruit is balanced by a fresh fruit acid and soft wood/fruit tannins. The aftertaste is long and lasting.

variety : Merlot [ 85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc ]

winery : Vergelegen Wines

winemaker : Andre van Rensburg

wine of origin : Coastal

analysis : alc : 14.5 % vol rs : 2.8 g/l pH : 3.48 ta : 6.5 g/l

type : Red style : Dry body : Full taste : Fruity wooded

pack : Bottle

ageing : Accessible after one-year bottle maturation but will last at least 6â€“8 years.

in the vineyard : All the grapes sourced from Vergelegen from our Kopland, Stonepine, Korhaan and lower â€œSchaapenbergâ€ vineyards. Two clones were used, a French Bordeaux clone and the Italian clone. Merlot is planted on north to northwesterly slopes but Korhaan and lower Schaapenberg are cooler sea facing vineyards. The vineyards are all dry land, but are carefully monitored to avoid stress.

about the harvest: The fruit is picked at peak physiological ripeness to avoid adding acid or extracting hard tannins.

in the cellar : Fermentation took place at 28Â°C and lasted 7 days. Further maceration of 2 weeks took place before the new wine was run off into barrels for malolactic fermentation. The Merlot received 5 rackings in total to aid the evolution of the tannins. The wine was matured for 20 months in small French oak barrels. Only 50% of the barrels were new.

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